


what the water takes away

by crownsandbirds



Category: One Piece
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Other, Pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-05-02 11:37:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19198000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crownsandbirds/pseuds/crownsandbirds
Summary: "He doesn't do more than grit his teeth while Benn lifts him up and rushes with him to their room in the inn - but the moment he's placed down on the bed he gasps a wet, breathless sound of agony, and everything hurts."Shanks loses his arm. Benn worries.





	what the water takes away

Benn catches him as soon as his knees give up under him.

 

Shanks' adrenaline carried him in a daze of pain and blood and _relief_ because Luffy is _alive_ , this stupid perfect brave kid, alive and sobbing his little heart out while clinging to his wet shirt, and somehow they manage to reach the shore - and as soon as Makino gently takes Luffy from his arms, his legs get weak, and he starts falling, and a pair of strong familiar arms hold him up as his vision goes black with _pain._

 

"Cap'n," Benn starts, voice rough with worry, and Shanks hates hearing his voice like that, hates making Benn worry, but he doesn't think he can answer right now, is barely processing the words "what happened - your arm - captain, _please_ -"

 

He doesn't do more than grit his teeth while Benn lifts him up and rushes with him to their room in the inn - Luffy is too upset and scared already, and Shanks will be damned all the way to hell if he lets the boy see him cry - but the moment he's placed down on the bed he gasps a wet, breathless sound of agony, and everything _hurts._

 

" _Benn_ ," he hears himself wailing like he's the scared child, and the sheets under him are warm and wet with blood, and tears are streaming down his face, "it _hurts_ , _it hurts -_ "

 

Their ship doctor, Haku, expertly takes care of the useless, soaked lump that used to be his arm. Shanks doesn't watch - he has his face hidden in Benn's shoulder, painful sobs wrecking his body, his first mate caressing his wet hair with shaky hands.

 

"Hold him, Benn," Haku says with kindness and the stern, commanding tone that comes with being a doctor, as he patches him up the best he can; Benn tightens his hold around Shanks.

 

"Why's it hurt so much?" he asks quietly, lips touching wet strands of fiery red hair. "Never seen you like this…"

 

He expects a cutting, angry remark as an answer - _try getting_ your _arm ripped off by a fuckin' sea monster, dammit_ \- but Shanks just takes a deep, shaking breath and lets out, "Wasn't thinkin'," between gritted teeth.

 

"What d'you mean?"

 

"Wasn't _thinkin'._ First thing I saw Luffy was drowning and there was this damn sea monster and it was gonna hurt Luffy and I just -" he's interrupted by a loud gasp and _winces_ when Haku pulls a little too hard on the bandages, Benn presses an instinctive kiss to the top of his head to calm him down, "Couldn't let it. Didn't think - just - grabbed Luffy. Let it bite me. Straight on. No haki, no nothing."

 

"Then what?"

 

" _Then_ I used haki - stared the big fucking bastard back to water - _fuck_ -" he wails with the pull and hook of the stitches in tender, bloodied skin, and buries his face in Benn's shoulder harder.

 

Benn clings to him; it's all he can do. His captain's tears are drenching the fabric of his shirt.

 

When it's all patched up and clean, the doctor leaves them be, carefully closes the door behind himself with a soft _thump_. Shanks' breathing is coming out ragged and short.

 

"At least the kid's okay." he whispers. Curls the fingers of the arm he has left around Benn's collar, loosens his hold, tightens it again. A single drop of seawater falls from the tip of one of his red bangs. "He's okay."

 

Benn can see in his expression, mouth slack with tendrils of pain and shock, the shaky fingers holding him, the strength they have still - at that moment in the ocean, and now, Luffy is all Shanks cared - cares about. And it's _incredibly_ like him, painfully so, to throw himself in front of a sea monster for someone he cares about, and Benn wants to grab him and throw him against a wall and yell, _I can't lose you like this, you asshole, what are we supposed to do if you die, what am I supposed to do, you stupid wonderful man -_

 

"Don't look at me like that," Shanks says with a weak smile Benn can feel against the skin of his neck.

 

"Like what?"

 

"Like you're mad."

 

"'m not mad."

 

"Yeah, you are. You're mad 'cause I could've died."

 

Benn frowns deeply, refuses that idea in the very core of his conscience, in his bone marrow and his veins, because Shanks can't _die_ , not him, not Benn's captain, not the reason he's alive, not the entire meaning to his existence, _not him._

 

_Anyone else, but him. Take me, if you must take someone; but not him._

 

Shanks chuckles, and it's charming still, damn him, charming and easy and light on the ears. "Being a pirate means being ready to put your life on the line, y'know."

 

"Not yours," Benn says fiercely.

 

"'m not special, Benn. No different from anyone."

 

"Yeah. Yeah, you are. You're different, cap'n."

 

Another little chuckle. "This stupid fuckin' stump hurts too much and I'm too damn tired to argue with you." he lifts his eyes - _beautiful_ eyes, red-rimmed from tears and tired from pain, nonetheless the eyes Benn fell and continues to fall in love with, like the entire ocean is inside them - and he says, soft order on his lips, "Stay with me. 'Till I sleep."

 

Benn has to shut his own eyes for a moment, to control the surge of affection and desperate devotion inside his heart. "Aye, cap'n."

 

-

 

When they last set sail from that little town, the sight of tiny Monkey D. Luffy clinging to Shanks' straw hat with all the strength that comes with hope and a dream that will be fulfilled, Benn drops the box he was carrying - obviously Shanks, lazy easy-going mess that he is, argued that now he can't carry stuff to the ship anymore, and obviously Benn is too goddamn fucking whipped for him, as Roo put it with a snicker, to really do anything more than uselessly bicker with him about it and then do the carrying for him either way - gets one last, good look at the small, fierce child and decides it was worth it.

 

Shanks, his single hand lazy on the handle of his sword, smiles at him with an infuriatingly cocky, _told you so_ , look on his face.

 

Benn can't help but smile back.

 

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to be much longer and MUCH better but med school is destroying me and i dont really have the time to write anything - i should be sleeping. anyway. have this mess. i fully believe shanks only kept his composure because he was with luffy, but he lost his arm without defending himself or being prepared at all, and you can't tell me that shit doesn't hurt and benn wouldn't lose his fucking mind over seeing his captain come back WITHOUT AN ARM


End file.
